Brexitometer front-page tracker: National press swings back behind Leave after pause in coverage following killing of Jo Cox

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National newspaper front pages today swung behind the campaign to leave the EU after a brief break in Brexit vote front-page coverage following the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox on Thursday.

Press Gazette’s Brexitometer tracker (above) adds up the total daily circulation of national newspapers with front page stories judged to favour either the Leave or Remain campaigns.

On Friday, 17 June, there was no coverage of Brexit on the UK national newspaper front pages as titles instead focused on reporting the Labour MP’s death.

On Saturday, 18 June, there was minimal coverage with just The Times (pro Remain ) and the Daily Express (pro Brexit) putting the EU referendum on their front pages.

But yesterday and today it was back to normal, with a strong pro-Brexit lead in terms of national newspaper front-page coverage.

The Remain campaign was given a boost on Sunday, with the Mail on Sunday backing a vote to stay in the EU. But the title did not put the story on its front page.

Today (Monday 20 June) the usual quartet of the Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Sun and Daily Mail all had stories favouring Brexit on their front pages. This was balanced with pro-Remain stories in The Times and Metro.

When today’s front-page coverage is weighted according to circulation, 54 per cent favoured Leave versus 25 per cent judged to favour Stay and 21 per cent neither.

This gives us today’s Brexitometer score which shows national newspaper front-page coverage firmly in the Leave side of the dial.

Overall, since 23 May some 35 per cent of national newspaper front-page stories have favoured Leave versus 9 per cent for Remain and 55 per cent neither (when values are weighted according to circulation).